1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for guaranteeing the performance of Ethernet packets in an Ethernet system that converts the Ethernet packets into synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) frames and transmits the SDH frames.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since conventional Ethernet systems for transmitting Ethernet packets have a sole purpose of providing best effort service, they do not guarantee high quality of service and high transmission performance. However, Ethernet systems for transmitting Ethernet packets have currently been changed to have a structure meeting consumers' various demands. In order to satisfy the various customers' demands, services need to be differentiated and the performance of the Ethernet packets must be guaranteed.
Many attempts have been made to guarantee high quality of service and high transmission performance of Ethernet packet transmission systems. Among them, a method of converting Ethernet packets into synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) frames and then transmitting the SDH frames has been studied to guarantee the transmission performance of the systems.
The conventional method of transmitting the Ethernet packets as the SDH frames is a port-based method in which the Ethernet packets are mapped to virtual containers, which are previously assigned by input ports, without processing information on the Ethernet packets. Since the conventional method controls only the SDH frames to guarantee the performance of the systems, it can guarantee the transmission performance over physical transmission lines. However, the conventional method cannot guarantee the performance of the Ethernet packets within the virtual containers and cannot differentiate services, thereby failing to provide various services.